General terms and their definitions will be covered, along with formulas that can help you get on the right path. Before we hit that information, I want to advise taking a week or two to study your current eating habits. Write down everything you eat, and find out how many calories, and grams of protein, carbs and fats you are eating each day.

This will take some work but you must do it. If you don't understand portions, calories and macronutrient compositions of the foods you are eating, the information contained in the rest of this article won't matter or help.

Calorie Expenditure - From BMR to TDEE

BMR - BMR, or basal metabolic rate, is basically the amount of calories you would require on a daily basis if you didn't move at all and expended the minimal amount of energy. To calculate your BMW, check out the BMR calculator on M&S.

BMR is commonly mistaken for the amount of calories you should eat each day. This is not the case, unless you are bedridden. It is a base level if you have zero activity on a daily basis, and nothing more.

NEAT - NEAT, or non-exercise activity thermogenesis (sometimes referred to as non-exercise associated thermogenesis), is the amount of calories you expend on a daily basis from non-planned movement or exercise. Non-activity calorie expenditure could include walking during work, talking, going to the store or doing household chores. Again, NEAT does NOT include planned gym cardio, conditioning and weight training sessions.

You typically have control over the incidental expended calories that are excluded in NEAT. You can choose to not go to the store, or to not clean your house, etc.

EAT - EAT, or exercise associated thermogenesis, refers to daily expended calories that come from planned exercise sessions. So for EAT, incidental exercise, such as going to the store or walking during work, is not included. Only your cardio, resistance training, Zumba, p90x, etc. sessions are totaled.

TEF - TEF, or thermal effect of feeding, is the amount of energy burned directly related to food intake and digestion. TEF will vary based on a meal's fiber and macronutrient composition.

TEF is measured as a percentage of a meal's overall calories. A typical meal's TEF is around 15%. An all protein meal might have a TEF as high as 25%, while the TEF of fat is typically below 5%. Carbs fall somewhere in the middle, and can land anywhere between 5 to 25% TEF. Fiber also has a high TEF.

TDEE - TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure, is the combination of your BMR, NEAT, EAT and TEF. It is the complete amount of calories you burn on any given day.

Very Active - BMR x 1.725:Very active, and you exercise or play sports 6-7 days per week.

Highly Active - BMR x 1.9:Extremely active, including up to twice a day training and/or a very physical job.

Understand that these numbers are designed to give you a rough estimation. The first 2 weeks at a new calorie level can result in abnormal weight gain or weight loss as your body accumulates or flushes water weight due to changing sodium and carb intake levels. Do not worry about weight gained or lost during the first 2 weeks of a cut or bulk unless it is unusual.

After this 2 week period you will want to monitor your weight and make slight adjustments based on goals.

Macronutrient Intake Levels​

Now that you know how many calories you will be eating per day, it's time to determine the macronutrient makeup of your diet. Once again, macronutrients are: proteins, fats and carbs.

Protein - Contains 4 calories per gram

Fats - Contain 9 calories per gram

Carbs - Contains 4 calories per gram

Fat Intake​

Fat does not make you fat. Your body needs a reasonable amount of fat intake for general health. Fat intake should comprise 20-35% of your overall daily calorie needs.

If you feel you function better on high carbs, then a 20-25% daily fat intake might be an option. If you have problems eating enough food, or you are carb-sensitive, then a higher fat content is recommended.

Protein Intake

Protein intake can be a controversial topic. Some folks claim you should never eat over 150 grams per day. While the effectiveness of eating over 150 grams per day for muscle building is debatable, there are certainly dietary reasons for eating more than 150 grams.

Extra protein intake is perfectly safe unless you have a pre-existing kidney function issue. If you are underweight, or on a bulk and building muscle at a rapid pace, then I recommend 200 to 250 grams of protein per day depending on your calorie requirements.

If you are eating a ton of calories per day, push your protein intake to around 250 grams. If your calorie intake is around 3000, then 200-220 daily grams might be a good option. I will also add that if you have already built a quality amount of muscle mass, or you are on a cutting diet, then it might be worth your time to eat a little more protein than normal.

For lifters who are gaining at a moderate pace and on somewhat of a slow and clean bulk, then 180 to 220 grams of daily protein is a good choice. Again, align your intake based on you calories needs and or dietary preferences.

Women should consider eating 100-120 grams of protein per day. If you are a younger woman and/or highly active, eat 120 grams per day.

Carb Intake

Now that you know your daily protein and fat intake levels, you can easily determine your carb requirements.

Keep in mind that you can adjust these numbers and levels as needed, based on what your body is telling you. I functioned better on higher carbs when I was younger, and better on higher fats in my 40s.

Listening to your body is very important. Remember to make small, gradual changes so you can assess future needs more easily.

About The Author

Steve Shaw is an experienced raw masters powerlifter with over 31 years of iron game experience. His best competition lifts are a 602.5 pound squat, a 672.5 pound deadlift, and a 382.5 pound bench press. Steve is also known as a powerbuilder. His goal is to help others build as much muscle and strength as humanly possible.

I'm 19 and weight about 138. I am currently eating 1400 calories a day, 20% fat, 30% protein, and 50% carbs. Am I eating what I should? I know this sounds like a very broad question, but I am trying to lose weight and tone. Are my intake levels correct or do they need to be modified?

I figured out my BMR and just find it hard to believe that I should b eating that many calories a day and even after I subtracted 1000 to get the lose weight amount,it just seems to high,ive been working out 3-5 times a week for 5 months and only lost 17 lbs,so idk what the prob is.

Steve,
I started working out around Christmas 2012, I was about 180 lbs I had already lost about 17 lbs just from watching my eating. (note: I'm 5 9' and a 38 year old male). My goal was 1700 calories @ 50p/30c/20f and got down to around 155 lbs in about 4 months- started at 197!, great, but I still got a huge amount of body fat- I'm sure I sacrificed quite a bit of muscle..since then I have kept my macros the same but upped my calories each week by about 200. This week, I just upper it from 2400 to 2600 and changed my macros to 25p/50c/25f (haha, tired of eating so much meat!)...I'm hoping to put on some lean muscle and maybe lose some of the body fat that never came off...Can you tell me if I'm on the right track.? Need some help bro. (I'm currently working out 6 days a week- 2 days of cardio, 3 days of weights, and some yoga)

I'm currently eating 2800 cals per day which should put me at a deficit of 600 cals on off day and
1100 cals on workout day and I'm not losing any weight at all. Is there something wrong with my calculations? Perhaps I have low testosterone or thyroid function? I should mention that I am gaining muscle from my heavy lifting workouts which would account for some fat loss but there is no way I'm gaining enough muscle to make up for the 1lbs per week I should be losing of fat.

Thanks for writing this, Steve. I've read that to increase strength and/or muscle mass you need to have a surplus caloric intake. If I add my EAT (weight training - which I've read burns about 200 kcal/hour for heavy weights with lots of rest; correct me if I'm wrong - and jogging for me also) to my NEAT + TEF + BMR, will this give a sufficient calorie count for increasing muscle mass? Or do I need a surplus beyond that amount (e.g. in case the muscles need additional energy to grow)?

Well it might. There are some groups that can add muscle mass running tighter diets, such as teens, skinny fat lifters, guys going through beginner gains, or guys who once had muscle and are gaining it back.

Best thing I can say is to try it and add clean calories if you need to.

Fair enough. I'm waiting to be accepted into my state's police force and they have reasonably strict requirements for body-fat percentage. Perhaps I'll buy myself some calipers and monitor it as well as my calorie intake. Thanks again, Steve.

I made one of these from scratch before, so I know what you went through to make this. Thank you very much for submitting. These formulas and the literature are much more thorough and helped me improve my own.